At the Town Limits
by Ann Valentine
Summary: Cloud and Zack manage to escape the ShinRa Army outside of Midgar. ...right? Spoilers for the ending of Crisis Core. Very mild Zaerith.


Zack Fair and Cloud Strife were surrounded.

Members of the ShinRa army were slowly circling them, an innumerable amount of guns pointed directly at Zack's head. The guns would have been pointed at Cloud's head as well, but the blond was still so stricken with mako poisoning it was all he could do to stand on his own two feet with Zack's help, much less keep his head up. Zack kept one hand tightly on Cloud's side and the other on the handle of the Buster Sword, ready to strike at any moment.

His breathing was deafening in his ears, roaring in and out as his eyes darted from one helmeted, anonymous face to the next, wondering when the commander would give the fatal order. He was tough, but he knew he couldn't take on all of them by himself, especially since they had guns. It would be easy to toss Cloud at them for bait and run like hell back to Midgar, but he chastised himself for even letting the thought cross his mind. Friends never left friends behind.

One of the soldiers near the front, a new recruit, judging by the ramrod straight posture and shiny new uniform, twitched his right hand. Zack spun towards him, ready to attack at the slightest provocation.

"Hold!" called the commander.

"What for?" Zack yelled impulsively, even though he knew it was suicide to do so. "You know you're going to kill me anyway, so why bother waiting?"

"We don't have to do this, Fair," the commander said sharply. "You can be good and come back with us or we can gun you and your buddy down. Your choice."

The laugh that burst out of Zack startled the new recruit near the front, and his hand twitched again. "Yeah, right, and be Hojo's guinea pigs for a little while longer? Like hell! I'd rather die!"

In all honesty, he would actually rather that the soldiers quietly let them return to Midgar, where he could take Cloud to a hospital and then run to a certain church in the Sector 7 slums, where, he hoped, he would find a beautiful girl...

His thoughts were interrupted by the commander's gruff voice.

"Fine! You heard him, boys! Ready ... aim ... fi-"

"Zack!"

Things seemed to slow down. Zack's head whipped around to see Cloud suddenly grinning up at him and standing up straight, blue eyes hard with determination.

"Cloud, what?" Zack cried.

"I don't know!" Cloud replied. "Whatever, man, let's just do this!"

Zack nodded in agreement and unsheathed the Buster Sword. Cloud unsheathed his weapon, and, to the surprise of the ShinRa army, the two men ran screaming into the thick of the group. The mako enhancements in their bodies allowed them to move much faster than the ordinary soldiers, and before any of them could react, Cloud and Zack had cut a swath through the group and made their break for Midgar.

"After them!" they heard the commander bellow, though his voice was drowned out somewhat by the thumping of their booted feet as they ran.

"If we can get inside the wall, we can lose them!" Zack yelled to Cloud. Cloud grunted in agreement and pointed to the gate in the wall ahead. On it was a '7' painted in bright white. Zack couldn't help but grin. This was perfect - all he had to do was run for the church...

"Open the gate!" Cloud suddenly called. Zack was about to ask what he meant when he realized Cloud was talking to the guard at the gate. The guard's head jerked up and her eyes widened, startled at being addressed by two running SOLDIERS. "Do it!"

Her hand shot out and pressed the button, and the gate began its slow grind open. Zack's eyes narrowed as he calculated the distance between them and the gate. It ought to have opened just enough to let them in.

Just as he'd thought, the gate had enough room to admit the two men side by side, with so little clearance that his arm brushed against the metal side of the gate.

"Split up!" Zack instructed Cloud. "We'll meet up later - Wall Market - go!"

Cloud nodded and took off down a darkened street. Relieved now that he knew Cloud was safe, Zack had one objective left: find Aerith.

He ran through Sector 7's streets until he spotted the familiar shape of the church, light pouring through the rose window in front. He burst through the doors and took a moment to catch his breath, then called out hoarsely: "Aerith!"

"Zack?"

And there she was, wearing a long pink dress and a short red jacket, long chestnut hair pulled back with the pink ribbon he had bought for her. Her green eyes were wide with surprise.

"Aerith," he said, striding across the room, arms open to receive her. "I told you I'd come back."

She ran to him and threw herself into his arms, burying her head in his chest. "I thought I'd never see you again," she said, voice thick with tears. "I thought you left me."

"I would never leave you," Zack told her, cupping her chin in his hand and tilting her head to look up at him. "I love you."

"I love you too," she said back, eyes glistening. "I -"

Zack placed a finger to her lips, and bent down to claim the kiss he had been wanting for five very, very long years. Her eyes fluttered closed and her lips puckered, ready to meet his -

"-re!"

Innumerable hammers clicked back.

A thousand bullets riddled Zack Fair's body from every angle, and he crumpled to the ground, eyes staring blankly up at the sky.

It began to rain.

Zack Fair was dead. 


End file.
